Conscript?
by DayDreamerGirl4life
Summary: I never wanted to join any army. Hades, I didn't even care that my Dad was a no show. Marley's the bitter one...and even he wasn't that fussed until Liam Rodgers came crashing into our lives and screwed everything up. Man I hate that guy...
1. An Angstyish Rant

I really can't decide who I hate more. I hate the Gods for leaving so many of their children unprotected and alone in the world. But it was the Titans who brought this to my attention and ruined my carefully sculpted and dam near perfect life.

Actually, I do know who I hate most. William Rodgers, Liam to his friends, one of whom I most certainly am not. He's the one who ruined my life, step by step. I know he didn't mean to, but he's such a douche I can't help but hate him anyway.

Oh by the way in case you were wondering, my name is Gemma Amelia Hayes. I'm a fourteen year old demigod daughter of...well I don't know. That's kind of the point.

I grew up in the town of Bellefonte, Delaware. My Mom had me when she was about 21, out of wedlock of course, much to my grandparent's disgust. Actually that's unfair; they tried pretty hard with me in the beginning. I don't remember them that well to be honest, we didn't see them very often after Mom married Steve.

Let me just say for the record that I like Steve a lot, he's a good guy and he treats my Mom right. But man he is not the brightest bulb in the box and, most importantly according to my Grandpa; he earns hardly anything so moneys always been pretty tight. Especially after Joe and Lizzy joined the family, that's my younger half siblings by the way.

That's a family of five already, not including my dog Toffee. And we all live in Apartment 12 White Rose Building, which has two official bedrooms by the way. Steve had to nick a load of plasterboard from work and divide the biggest bedroom in two. And I share the slightly bigger half with a snoring five year old and a large dog that thinks it's still a puppy. It's not fun...

That said, I loved that stupid apartment and my stupid family. I was really happy there, and I had my life sorted. I was going to graduate High School, somehow afford college, become the President or a multi-millionaire business woman and marry Marley.

Marley Richards, resident of Apartment 14, the son of my Mom's best friend, and my best friend and fiancé. Well he proposed when we were five and he's never taken it back. As far as I'm concerned Marley and to an extent his Mom, my Auntie Violet, are like family. We grew up together and we'd never been apart for more than a week before.

So I had my tiny apartment smelling of wet dog, my ever present family and my sort-of boyfriend. Life was great, until Marley made me miss the school bus a year ago...


	2. I Get Very Jealous Of A Monster

It had been a pretty typical Tuesday so far; I'd forgotten my algebra homework in the rush to catch the school bus, realised my gym kit was well overdue for a wash, got blamed for a paper aeroplane that hit my English teacher and got wacked on the head with a baseball on my way to last period. And then Marley Richards, who was my best friend before this, made me miss the bus home. So I was stuck walking with him, lugging half the contents of my locker with me.

Worst of all, Marley had no idea what the problem was. "But it's such a nice sunny day" he pointed out, his own nearly empty backpack swung neatly over his shoulder. "And it's not that long a walk"

Words failed to describe my annoyance, so I glared at him "Marley it is January, it is freezing and I am carrying the entire library on my back." He comically raised his eyebrows at me, which just infuriated me further so I gave him a little push "Now go away, I don't want to walk with you"

He held up his hands in a gesture of peace, grinning "Fine, I won't walk with you" He waited five seconds and then fell into perfect step with me "I am simply walking in exactly the same direction as you."

I stopped, hoping he would just carry on walking without me. No such luck.

"So what happened in English?" Marley asked "Heather said Mrs Hocking really laid into you. She's such a pain, she's always picking on me cause of my dyslexia. You know maybe we should..."

I did my best to just ignore him, thinking how much easier this would be if I could afford an iPod. But Steve was still paying off the new fridge and my birthday wasn't for months. Still if I kept saving my paper round money...

Marley really doesn't like being ignored. He waved a hand in front of my face "Hey Gem, are you listening?"

"Nope" I said, popping the p, before sprinting across to the other side of the road in-between the traffic. I know that this is a pretty stupid thing to do without really looking but hey, it's not killed me yet.

Marley yelled something after me, probably an insult as he's the type of guy who waits for signed instructions from the traffic warden before crossing the road. I smiled smugly to myself at his annoyed face and slipped down a backstreet into the park, determined to try and beat him back home. Unfortunately, the stupid traffic lights were on his side and he soon caught up with me.

"You really shouldn't do that" he said sternly, pulling my arm round so I had to look at him. Honestly, just because he's a few months older he thinks he can boss me around.

I pulled a face at him and pulled away "Gee Mom, you've changed a lot."

He sighed, Marley's got this way of sighing like he's a wronged martyr that can really make you feel guilty. If you're not me of course "Oh get over yourself Marl"

"I don't know why I bother sometimes" He shook his head irritably, but his smile gave him away and I grinned back at him.

I put on a baby voice, quoting a line he's never going to live down if his Mum can help it "Because Gemmy is your favoritist person ever ever in the whole wide world"

Marley smiled reminiscently before he suddenly looked at me, all serious "Well you are..."

I suddenly felt very grateful for the fact that my face doesn't blush when I'm embarrassed, just my ears. And they were safely hidden under my hair today. "Good to know...I like you too" My heart stopped as I heard the words leaving my mouth "I mean I love you...you're my best friend. I mean I do like you...as a..."

Marley was staring at me thoughtfully and stepped slightly forward so we were almost face to face. Oh my god, I thought, it's finally happening. The boy is finally going to kiss me.

He leant down towards me and...

A nearby shout completely ruined the moment. I span round in time to see a boy sprinting through the park. He looked about sixteen, and he was very good looking with straight blonde hair and bright blue eyes. But he set my nutter-alarm right off as he was wearing the weirdest clothes I'd ever seen. He actually looked like he was wearing some kind of metal armour and had a heavy looking sword in his hand.

I managed a few words "What the..." Then I realised I was standing on my own. Marley, wannabe hero extraordinaire, was already running after the boy.

"Hey" he yelled after him "Are you alright?" I rolled my eyes before setting off after them.

Mystery Boy obviously thought it was a pretty dumb question too, because he just kept running.

Now I don't want to boast but I'm a pretty fast runner, way faster than Marley or anyone else at school. I caught up with the boy pretty quickly, though in fairness the kid had run straight down a dead end.

"Hey you, where do you think you're going?" I asked warily, keeping one eye on his sword; it looked pretty sharp even if it was a weird bronzy colour. "Who are you running from?"

"Keep out of this mortal" I wasn't sure if he meant this as an insult but his tone really annoyed me. It just stunk of I'm-So-Much-Better-Than-You-ness "You don't know what you're dealing with"

I crossed my arms and tried to look tougher than the skinny fourteen year old I was "A medieval weapons obsessed psycho?"

The boy paused, sparing me a second look and raising the weapon "You can see my sword?"

I was about to answer when Marley ran down the block towards us shouting "Hey leave her alone"

I of course mainly found this highly insulting and patronising, but a small traitorous, backwards part of me quite liked it. Mystery Boy seemed to find it amusing "Cute, but it's alright mate your little girlfriend isn't my type"

Any kind of liking at all I might have taken to this stupid ass faded at that point. I was about to retort but Marley beat me to it "She's not my girlfriend" That stung but it's not like either of them were paying any attention to me "And why exactly were you pointing a fricking sword at her?"

Mystery Boy grinned, like Christmas had come early or something "You're kidding me, I've found both of you. That'll show Ed, two untrained on my first go."

Marley glanced at me and I was glad that he looked as confused as I felt, though he looked more thrown. I turned on Mystery Boy glad of an excuse to be rude "Excuse me? What's untrained supposed to mean?"

He pretty much ignored me, looking the pair of us up and down. He extended his hand to Marley "William Rodgers, my friends call me Liam"

Marley shook his hand nervously "Marley Richards...and she's Gemma Hayes"

"Marley" William repeated smirking and my friend went scarlet, he's a bit sensitive about his name.

Yet another reason to dislike this 'Liam' "What do you mean untrained?" I repeated. I really wanted to just walk away but I had this really nasty feeling that Marley might actually be sucked in by this exceedingly dodgy character. I mean I'm very fond of him but he has the worst character judgement ever.

William smiled at me patronisingly "Don't worry, I'll explain everything on the way Emma"

I scowled at him "On the way where William?" A flash of annoyance crossed his face before he rearranged his features into what was probably supposed to be a reassuring smile.

"I prefer Liam" he said calmly "Tell me, have you ever seen anything that didn't make sense? Maybe a monster, but no one else could see it"

I felt my stomach twisting as I caught Marley's eye. Because that was one of the reasons we'd stayed such good friends, because nobody else could see 'them'. Did this strange boy really see the strange monsters too?

Marley opened his mouth but I cut over him, determined to show this William that I wasn't flipping intimidated by a sheet of metal it looked like he could hardly lift. "Yeah well...my name is Gemma if you don't mind and there's a free mental health centre in town mate so on your bike..."

I turned to Marley, determined to drag him away if I had to. Then I saw the look on his face, the same look he got when he first heard Justin Beiber. And the horrific thing, whatever it was, it was right behind me. I slowly turned around, or at least I meant to.

That stupid William knocked me to the ground before I could move, charging past me towards...oh no way. There was a really pale woman advancing towards us, like chalky pale. She seriously looked like a vampire, a real vampire, not some Twilight thing.

She seemed to be concentrating on William, letting out a hiss. William raised his sword "Back off, I found them first and they're coming with me" Obviously this made her notice me and Marley for the first time. She didn't pay much attention to me, this had better not becoming a regular occurrence, but her eyes lit up when she saw Marley.

She stepped towards him and her form began to morph, her skin darkening and her hair curling. I blinked; she looked kind of like a broken video, flickering from one form to the other. Or at last that's what I saw.

Marley stepped nervously towards her, looking dazed and confused "Hello? Are you alright?"

The thing giggled, fluttering her eyelashes at him. Well at least the form that had eyelashes did "Hello Sweetie." She beckoned him over with one elegant finger and Marley started towards her, utterly mesmerized.

William stepped between them, his sword pointed right at the monster "Get back you two, it's an empousa"

I blinked, was this guy for real? "Is that supposed to mean something to me?" I snapped at him, more rudely than he probably deserved. But the fact that Marley was practically drooling over an empousa, whatever that was, was really bugging me.

William suddenly lunged at the Empousa and it snarled at him, its hair bursting into flames. It blasted him into a wall; he landed with a thud and wasn't moving. The kid had managed to miss from about two feet away, now I'm not an expert but I was beginning to have serious doubts about this guys credentials. Even worse Marley didn't seem to have noticed that his crush's hair was on fire.

"Hey Liam, what are you doing? Leave her alone..." He stepped forward and the empousa turned to him, smiling and putting out her hair. She was looking at him hungrily, like those stupid girls at school did. I felt anger flare up inside me as I saw her hold out her hand to him.

I shoved my friend out of the way "Sorry, he's spoken for"

The Empousa snarled at me, lunging forward. I dodged her, just, wondering what the hell I had just done. It seemed to be conjuring fireballs in its fists, ready to throw at me. Great, I'd always hated dodge ball in gym.

Still at least it seemed to have forgotten about Marley, I was definitely the one she wanted to kill next. I was doing pretty well at dodging her blasts until one caught the side of my arm. It'd barely touched me but I couldn't stop myself crying out in pain. It had burnt right through my thick winter coat and my arm was hurting like hell.

The Empousa paused, smirking at me; oh for god's sake she even had fangs like a vampire. I tried to grit my teeth, ignore the searing pain in my arm and get ready to run but she had me up against a wall, I wasn't dodging anything else she threw at me.

I closed my eyes and waited, wondering how much it would hurt before I actually died. There was a screech and I braced myself, wondering if my Mum would ever find out what had happened to me.


	3. Remind Me Never To Play Twenty Questions

Nothing happened. A surprisingly warm breeze suddenly washed all over me, it made me sneeze and I opened my eyes to find myself absolutely covered in golden dust.

I looked up; Marley was standing there with the sun forming a halo around his face and sandy hair. Williams's sword was right through where the empousa had been and my best friends face was terrifying. He looked like some kind of avenging angel.

I blinked, snapping out of it. "Nice of you to join us" I snapped, still very irritated with him.

I might have been a little bit too harsh because his face fell, bringing out the kicked puppy look. He lowered the sword, looking confused "What?"

Relief flooded through me, he genuinely didn't remember. This must mean he'd been under a trance or something, thank god. "Oh...never mind" I scanned the street; the dust was everywhere "What happened? What is this stuff?"

"I don't know, there was this weird vampire thing and it had fireballs and it had you cornered and Liam was unconscious!" I recognised the signs of panic in my friend and rearranged my face into a reassuring smile.

"Its o.k Marls, what happened to the vampire thing?" I brushed some of the dust of his shoulder absent mindedly.

Marley glanced at the sword in his hand, like he was scared it might attack him "I...I picked this up and stabbed it and...it just exploded"

I looked at him and laughed humourlessly "And the day started out so well..."

Marley grinned at me and opened his mouth to speak but a faint groan made us both turn. It was the first time I'd really looked at William since he'd been blasted. I felt a pang of guilt; he was in really bad way. A fireball had hit him straight on and his chest looked badly burned. And I'd thought my arm was bad...

Marley was already leaning over him, snapping his fingers to focus the boy's attention "O.k, Liam can you hear me?"

William opened one eye, looking utterly pathetic "Did I kill her?" Marley glanced at me, smiling briefly at my utterly incredulously face before turning back to the injured boy.

Have I mentioned that Marley is a much nicer person than I am? "Yeah you did it, but I think we're gonna have to get you to a hospital or something mate."

William's eyes widened at that and he attempted to get up "No, I'm fine" He promptly groaned in pain before sinking back down the wall.

I raised my eyebrows, peering at the roasted flesh of his chest "Looks like it"

Marley glared at me as he helped the boy up onto his shoulder "A little help please Gem" I glared right back at him for making me feel bad before hoisting William up from the other side.

Luckily we were nearly home, if I'd had to go much further in that stupid travesty of a three-legged race I think my spine might have given out. To say he that looked pretty skinny, the guy was heavy. Not he appreciated that, he whined and moaned every time one of us accidently jerked him. Unfortunately Marley caught me the third time I did it on purpose. And on top of that the elevator was out of order. We finally managed to get him up two flights of stairs and into Marley's apartment.

I helped Marley put him on the couch; he was still complaining "Ow...careful..."

My patience with the boy, injured or not, was wearing pretty thin and it must have shown in my face because Marley quickly sent me off to fetch some hot water with salt, cold water, kitchen roll, towels and that soothing cream his Mom bought when he burnt his arm. I know Marley's Apartment way better than my own; as there are less people to randomly move stuff around, and I was soon back in the front room.

Marley started peeling back the boy's shirt; luckily the fireball thing had knocked his armour right off him. I winced imagining what would have happened if it's had melted...ouch. Marley's voice was reassuring and calm, a sure sign he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. "This may sting a little..."

William jerked back as Marley applied the warm salt water, crying out in pain. "Keep still" Marley said calmly "It'll disinfect it"

"It hurts" William whimpered, looking a lot younger with his pout. He kind of reminded me of my little half brother Joe, cocky as heck until he gets hurt and then he's just like a little kid again; a whiny little kid. Still Marley probably needed some help.

I settled on the arm of the sofa faking a wide smile "Oh think about something else." He glared at me "Oh come on...I know, let's play twenty questions. I'll start, what exactly is an empousa and why did it attack us?"

"That's two questions" William said unhelpfully, though he was at least concentrating on me now.

My smile stretched painfully over my gritted teeth "So you get to ask two next turn..."

"It's an original vampire, a monster that drinks human blood" William winced as Marley started applying the cream "It attacked us because I'm, well we're...half god"

I stared at him. He stared back at me, a small sheepish smile on his face. Lots of different replies were running through my head at that point but Marley beat me to it "Excuse me?"

William leaned forward conspiratorially "How much do you know about the Greek Myths?"

My heart sank; I didn't want to hear anymore. I had a strong feeling I wouldn't like what was coming next. "The keyword being myth right?" I asked jokingly. Marley ignored me entirely and William smiled at me sadly.

"I'm afraid not. The truth is, the Greek gods are still very much alive. They still run things behind the scenes, releasing monsters and messing around with mortals."

Marley had forgotten all about the cream "You mean like Apollo and Artemis, those gods?" I cursed inwardly; I knew I should have made him do a project on Alexander the Great with me in the fourth grade, instead of letting him go off with Mickey and do the Greek Gods.

William looked up nervously "Yeah, but I wouldn't mention their names. Anyway, these gods get off with mortals and we're the result. We're kinda half human, half god..."

There was silence for several minutes as me and Marley processed this. Well I think Marley was processing it, I was in more of a Yeah-Right sort of a place. I kept blocking out all the things about this explanation that made sense, it was impossible. Greek Gods do not exist...did not exist! End of.

"So who's your Dad then?" Marley asked, his face inexplicably hard.

William blushed and looked down, suddenly embarrassed "My Dad's a clothes designer in LA"

"So who's your Mom then?" Marley asked, there was definitely something wrong with him. I just didn't have a clue what.

William mumbled something that sounded like "A fo dighty"

"Really?" Marley asked, evidently surprised. I racked my brain but I still had no idea what they were talking about.

William glared at him and spoke coldly "Shut up, I didn't ask for her as a Mother. She's got nothing to do with me."

Marley raised his hands peacefully "Whoa, I didn't say anything" There was a long pause as the boys stared at the floor, immersed in their own thoughts. Then Marley spoke carefully "Will?"

The older boy glanced at him "What?"

Marley seemed to be struggling with something, he swallowed and then the words spilled out of him "Do you know who my Dad is?"

A knot in my stomach tightened, this wasn't going to end well. Marley had always wondered about his Dad, way more than me. That had been what our first argument had been about, Marley had constantly wanted to talk and fantasise about who our Dad's could be and I...just didn't. It made me feel weird and I didn't like it. I still didn't want to talk about it now.

William stood up "I...let me try something" He pulled Marley up too and then looked at me "You burnt your arm didn't you?" Marley started at this, turning towards me with a Why-Didn't-You-Say-Anything look.

As soon as he mentioned it my arm started throbbing again, worse than before. I nodded "Yeah, so? It's not so bad..."

He nodded, pulling me up "Keep still" William told me as he started peeling my coat off.

I winced as he pulled off a bit of skin with it but managed to shoot Marley an I'm-O.k grin. Luckily my school shirt was a couple of sizes too big so I could just pull the edges away from the burn. My upper am and elbow were bright red and nice and crispy.

William was obviously a bit squeamish but he pulled Marley over. He took Marley's arm and placed his hand firmly on my arm. It kinda hurt and Marley pulled away "What are you doing?"

"Just trust me" Marley looked at me warily but he did what he was told. His hand was cool on my skin, it felt really nice. "Now repeat after me; Therapéf̱ste to énkav̱ma"

Marley looked at me and I shrugged, what was the worst that could happen? "Therapéf̱ste to énkav̱ma"

I gasped like some Disney princess, I know how pathetic that sounds but my arm was glowing with some sort of golden light. It was mesmerising and it felt so warm.

Marley snatched his hand away in horror and the glow faded "What was that?"

William examined my arm smugly "Totally healed" He turned to Marley and bowed sardonically "All hail Marley Richards the son of Apollo, god of, amongst other things, medicine"


End file.
